Flute
by InkyManipulation
Summary: Somehow, music has a way of bringing even the most unlikely people together. AU
1. Meeting

Haru wandered along the little used park path, heading to her usual bench to play her flute in peace. Her mother was working on a new quilt pattern and had kicked her out of the house because she couldn't concentrate while Haru was practicing. Haru didn't mind. It was a lovely day out and the weather was just right. She grinned and took in a lungful of the sweet spring air. Perfect. Haru had a feeling that her day could only improve.

Humming a bright tune, she continued down the path that lead to her normal spot in the park. She had been nearly there when she thought that she'd heard a violin. It had been very faint, but still… It had been very well played.

With a pricked curiosity and a thoughtful frown Haru adjusted her bag so that it sat more firmly on her shoulder and headed in the direction she thought it had come from. There was a slight problem with this, though. Said direction involved leaving the path and fighting her way through some of the more persistent undergrowth as well as a few thorn bushes that had been given free reign. As Haru quickly discovered.

"Ouch! Stupid thorns…" Haru hissed as she gained yet another collection of scratches, courtesy of another bush. She was so glad that she hadn't worn a skirt today; it would have been in pieces by now. Haru paused again and listened for moment. She frowned, the sound had changed directions again.

It had been doing this constantly since Haru had started following it, as well as taking her through the wildest patches of underbrush it could find. It was as if something was deliberately trying to discourage her. Or attempting get her so helplessly lost she'd never find it. But for all this, Haru felt like she was getting closer to the music's source.

After fighting her way through some particularly dense and tricky thorn bushes, Haru was surprised to discover an overgrown path that looked as if it hadn't been used it in years. On either side of it ancient trees crowded together barely letting in the sun; giving the trail a private, secluded feeling. The leaves of the trees seemed to rustle and whisper, _she's here, someone's coming. beware._ While in the background the violin's melody soared, a perfect counterpoint to the tree's whispering.

"This is really weird…" Haru muttered to herself, as a shiver worked its way down her spine. Eyeing the path cautiously, she followed it, with the music gently pulling her onward as it grew louder with every step.

Gradually, the trail became wider and the trees started to grow further apart, lessening the trail's slightly gloomy air. Haru wasn't sure how long she'd been following the path, but it felt like it had been hours.

Eventually, Haru came to a bright sunny clearing. She stopped at the edge of it, staring in awe. The meadow was amazingly beautiful; vibrant flowers were everywhere, covering the meadow like some kind of exotic carpeting. The only part of the meadow not covered in flowers was near an oak that towered over the grove like some kind of ancient guardian. While the sun shone gently down through the green leaves of the surrounding trees, adding a peaceful feel to the grove. Haru felt instantly relaxed and, for some reason, safe. It was a like scene from a particularly good dream.

It was then that she finally saw the source of the music. Leaning against a large oak tree was a cat figurine playing a violin. It appeared to be dressed like an old-fashioned English gentleman in a well-tailored grey suit. It even had a top hat the same color as its suit. She took an unconscious step forward then quickly moved back until she was pressed against a tree, clutching the strap of her bag tightly.

"What the…" Haru couldn't believe her eyes. What she was seeing was impossible… wasn't it?

"Alright. That's it. No more late night cramming for me." She muttered. "I will close my eyes and when I open them that violin playing cat will be gone."

She closed her eyes.

She opened her eyes.

It was still there…

Her idea hadn't worked. She considered trying it again, but decided against it. If it hadn't worked the first time, it probably wouldn't work at all.

Haru looked at the figurine, noticing that it had stopped playing. It appeared to have noticed her standing there. She sighed. "I always knew I'd go crazy one day. I just never expected it to be so soon…"

The figurine carefully placed its violin on the ground and stood, brushing off its formal gray slacks. "I'd like to assure you that you haven't gone mad, Miss…" He, with that voice it was definitely a he, paused, looking at her expectantly.

"Ah… Haru. Haru Yoshioka." Haru stuttered, surprised that he was even asking for her name and inwardly laughing that a cat wearing a top-hat was assuring her of her sanity.

"Thank you, Miss. Yoshioka." He seemed to smile before continuing, "My name is Baron Humbert von Gikkingen, and it is a pleasure to meet you."

&

Baron looked at Miss. Yoshioka, expecting her to reply. What he did not expect was for her to vehemently mutter, "This is insane!" and take off in the direction that'd she'd come from. He blinked, feeling just a tad offended at the speed that she'd used.

"Well, I wasn't quite expecting that to happen…" He muttered.

One of the larger trees in the grove was shaking, almost as if it was doubled over, having a great laugh at something particularly amusing.

"Surely I'm not that startling?" Baron asked the laughing oak he'd been leaning against before Miss. Yoshioka had made her appearance.

"_Of course not, Baron." _Louise assured, still laughing furiously. Normally the female population had a tendency to run toward, not away, from the gentleman Creation. _"As long as she doesn't know how you sounded on that thing of yours when you _first_ got it."_

Baron grinned slightly, Miss. Yoshioka forgotten in favor of a decades long argument. "Oh, really, Louise? And I suppose you would have done better in my place?"

"_Infinitely."_ The tree sniffed, her giggle fit subsiding.

Now I believe explanations are in order concerning Baron's abilities, as well as just what he is. Baron is a Creation, a literally living work of art. Creations occur whenever someone puts all of their heart, soul and belief in the fantastic into their work. As you can suppose, this makes them extremely rare, for this reason the few that exist are jealously guarded, or sought after. Each Creation is given three gifts to help them make their way in this world. One of Baron's gifts is the ability to communicate with trees. But now, we really should return to the story.

"What about-"

"_Face it Baron, you still have nothing to beat the time when I lost half my spring leaves because of that dratted thing."_ Louise smirked triumphantly.

"Fine. I will admit to being responsible for that unfortunate incident-"

"_Thirty years after said 'unfortunate' incident."_

Baron continued as if Louise hadn't said anything, "But you must admit that you enjoy my playing now."

"_I don't have to admit to anything."_ The oak grinned and changed the subject. _"That Haru girl plays the flute, you know."_

"Really?" Baron asked politely, still a bit miffed that she'd ran, "Is she any good?"

"_According to Mayu, one the sakura trees down the way, she's not bad. Through she needs some more practice to be really good. Coming from Mayu, that's high praise."_

One of Baron's ears twitched, a sure sign that he was interested, "That is intriguing… I wonder if she'll come back?" Though he knew the odds were highly unlikely, he still found himself hoping that Miss. Yoshioka would. It had been a very long time since he'd had anyone new to share his music with.

"_She might. She might not. You know how humans are."_ The tree shrugged, leaves rustling rhythmically. _"So what is that piggy cat of yours up to nowadays?"_

" Oh, the usual. Eating, sleeping and arguing with Toto non-stop." Baron sighed, exasperatedly, at the last. "You would think after five years that they'd be able to come up better insults at least!"

Louise smiled to herself, glad to have given Baron a distraction; the poor dear hadn't had any cases in such a long time.

&

Haru leaned against her front gate and let herself slid to the ground, trying to pull breath back into her lungs. She'd ran the five blocks from the park at full speed without stopping and had barely slowed down for any of it. The end result of this was that she couldn't move for next five minutes, exhausted and unable to think.

When she was able to move again, Haru pulled herself to her feet and went inside. Tiredly she slipped off her shoes and called an "I'm home!" to her mum, though she probably hadn't heard it. Not much got through to her when she was quilting. Haru trudged upstairs and collapsed on her bed.

"What weird day…"

A white cat poked her head out from under the bed, her head cocked inquisitively. "Must have been a really weird one for you to land on the bed that hard." She slid out from under the bed and started to clean herself up.

Haru sat up and smiled apologetically "Sorry 'bout that, Yuki. I forgot you were under there."

"It's alright, Haru." Yuki paused and jumped onto the bed. "But I'll only forgive completely you if you brush out my fur. Besides, you still owe me for the last time." She grinned.

Haru smiled, rolling her eyes as she reached for the brush. "Alright, Mistress Vanity."

"I'll have you know that I- oh, that feels nice… " Yuki purred, stretching and arching into the brush.

Haru giggled at the sight of her friend acting so undignified, not even catnip could get her like this.

"Laugh if you want, Haru but you don't know what you're missing." The white cat was purring puddle by now.

"Of course I don't."

"You really don't, oh never mind." Yuki was enjoying this far too much to argue. "So, tell me about this weird day of yours."

So Haru explained about the violin that she'd heard, her adventures through evil underbrush (Yuki though she was just a bit prejudiced about that, Haru disagreed), how the wonderful music had constantly changed directions on her, the ancient path that'd appeared, the beautiful meadow and meting the source of the violin.

Haru had long since stopped brushing Yuki, but the cat had been interested enough not to complain. "And you ran…" Yuki shook her head, her tail twitching amusedly. "Sometimes I think I'll never get you, Haru. You talk to cats without a problem, but you bolt at anything else that's odd."

"I know, Yuki." Haru sighed. "I really hope my flute's okay though, after all that running I did." She pulled the flute case out of the bag and opened it, fretfully checking flute over. Her mother would kill if she'd broken one of the keys again.


	2. Necessity

Haru had no clue why she was doing this again. There was absolutely no reason to do it, none at all. There no real reason for her to be in her sturdiest pair of jeans and least favorite (but most durable) shirt battling her way through brambles, thorn bushes and various bits of spiteful plant life _again._ There was no reason to go back to that spectacularly beautiful meadow, which was starting to seem like it was more trouble then it was worth. There was also no reason for her to have brought her flute with her, except that it had felt necessary. All of it did. 

Haru had learned over the years not to ignore that sort of feeling. 

Once again, she managed to stumble across that strange, ancient path; crowded and shadowed with trees that knew things. But this time, the path felt more peaceful and gentle, less filled with gloom and shadows hiding secrets from shades. As Haru walked the trail with slightly more confidence, she could have sworn that instead of whispering, _beware_, the trees were saying _hello, child_. Haru shook her head at herself, sometimes, her imagination come up with the strangest ideas…

Soon the trees parted, once more leading Haru to the meadow which was just as lovely, if not more so, then when she had last seen it two weeks ago.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

"Good afternoon, Grandmother Mayu." The figurine gave her a fond smile as he greeted the ancient tree.

"_Good to see you too, Baron." _The sakura smiled back, "_It's been a long time since you've visited this old tree."_

Baron removed his top hat and bowed, apologizing, "I'm really very sorry about that. I was going to call on you last week, but something urgent come up." 

"_Oh, fine."_ The tree gave Baron a grandmotherly smile, _"Old Mayu will forgive this time, but don't let it happen again. Now go on, sit."_ The sakura ordered briskly, using a few of her more flexible braches to shoo him to a comfortable spot. 

"_Now, how have things been at that Bureau of yours lately?" _

He frowned and shifted on his branch, "It's been a little slow as of late, but hopefully things will pick up soon." The conversation continued like this for some time, while the tree reflected on some things she had heard concerning the Creation before her. 

Old Mayu had recently heard rumors that Baron was interested in the girl who often played beneath her, whom the tree had become rather fond of. She was such dear, sweet child. And so, being a very blunt and rather forthright tree, Old Mayu decided to ask him about it.

"_So, Louise tells me you saw my Haru a few weeks back." _The tree tried to sound disinterested, but failed.

Baron tilted his head curiously, "Do you mean, Miss. Yoshioka? If so, then yes, I did encounter her briefly in Louise's grove." He smiled slightly to himself, now amused, instead of offended at the memory. 'Briefly' was certainly an accurate way of putting it.

"_Yes, that Haru."_ Old Mayu then glared at him, an impressive feat for a tree, _"Louise also told me that you scared her so badly that she ran off." _

"Grandmother, that was completely unintentional." Baron protested. "I believe that Miss. Yoshioka was merely startled at meeting me. After all, it's not often humans come across my kind." 

Old Mayu pondered this for a moment._ "Oh, alright, but do it again, Baron, and I'll have your heartwood. I'm rather fond of that girl."_

"Of course I won't, Grandmother." Baron promised, he then joked, "In fact, if we ever meet again, I hope to hold an actual conversation with her." 

Old Mayu smiled warmly and chuckled, _"I'm sure you'd like her. Now, run along, Grandson. You can't be spending all your time with an old tree like me."_

He sighed and stood, brushing himself off. "That is, unfortunately, true. I promised Louise that I would visit her as well today." Baron slid the violin case over his shoulder and dropped to the bench beneath Old Mayu's branches. "It was a pleasure, as always, to speak with you, Grandmother Mayu."

He then set off down the path at a brisk pace, whistling a bright tune.

"_And don't you forget to come back, young sapling!"_ The old tree shouted after him. Baron smiled and kept on walking, already too far away to answer.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Soon after entering the clearing Haru had relaxed, soothed by how peaceful the whole place felt. Looking for a place to sit, she quickly settled on a large oak in the middle of the clearing. Before completely settling in though, Haru looked up at the tree, grinning, "Hope you don't mind me sitting here. You just look like a good spot for this sort of thing."

She then pulled her flute case out of her messenger bag, opened it, and started to put the pieces together with the ease of long familiarity.


	3. Oddities

"_Haru was just here._" Louise said suddenly.

"She was?" He looked up from tuning the violin, surprised.

"_Yes, you just missed her, Baron._"

"That really is too bad," he sighed, "I was hoping to speak with her."

"_Really?_" Louise asked, curious.

"Yes, I was." Baron gently drew the bow across the strings and winced at the sour sound. Not quite there yet.

"_Well, then you'll be interested to hear this. She asked for permission to play in my grove, Baron._" The oak's branches swayed in a non-existent wind, rather akin to someone shaking their head in stunned disbelief. "_Haru _asked_. It's been _years_ since someone's done that…" _Hanging in the air, unspoken between them were the words, You were the last one to ask me, Baron. And you knew that I was here, she doesn't.

Baron's eyes widened slightly and he set his violin carefully to the side. "Now that is intriguing." He murmured.

"_It's not normal, is what it is, Baron_." Louise retorted. "_Humans normally have to be hit in the face with the Sprit World to even admit it exists. Most don't even believe in it these days." _There was sad, resigned air about the tree._ "They've even forgotten about Creations._"

"It is rather disappointing, yes. But there isn't much that we can do about it. Humans are very stubborn creatures, when they wish to be." Baron replied quietly.

"_True_." There was a small pause as both remembered different times and different people. Baron broke it.

"It is possible that she's more perceptive to the world around her then most." Baron mused. "After all, that's not unheard of." He made a mental note to ask Grandmother Mayu for more information about Haru. She was proving to be far more interesting then he'd initially thought.

"_Maybe_…"Louise said, skeptically.

"Well, let us set aside the matter for now." Baron resumed tuning his violin. "For the moment, there nothing to be gained in thinking about this farther."

"_I suppose you're right, Baron._" Louise agreed, her leaves rustling in an imitation of a sigh.

"Any requests?" He inquired.

"_How about Vivaldi?_"

"'Four Seasons'?"

"_Of course!_" She exclaimed cheerily, pushing the strange girl to the back of her thoughts.

"Very well, then." And with one last twist of the tuning key, he began to play, having memorized this particular piece long ago.

But in spite of his own advice, Baron could not stop himself from thinking about Miss. Haru Yoshioka, and the fact that she had asked instead of just taking. In this way, she followed him back to the Bureau, where she took up residence and refused to leave.

&

Haru hummed happily as she headed home from the park, feeling lighter then she had for a long time. Though, she felt like she hadn't done what she'd been supposed to at the grove. She frowned. Whatever that had been… Which meant that she'd have to go back soon. It wasn't smart to leave loose ends lying around, unpleasant things tended to happen then.

Though she couldn't complain, that grove really was peaceful and something about it refreshed her. Haru slowed her brisk pace, thoughtfully. In a way, it kind of reminded her of the bench where she normally practiced. But there was definitely a difference between the two. If asked, Haru'd likely compare the grove to being surrounded by lavender, calm and soothing; while her bench was like being wrapped up protectively in a spicy smelling blanket. She smiled, remembering the feeling. She would have to go back there soon.

"Maybe tomorrow…" Haru muttered to herself. Yes, definitely tomorrow. For some reason, Haru always felt like she was getting scolded if she didn't swing by at least once a week…

"Hey there, Chicky!" Someone said, rattling Haru from her thoughts as she stopped, startled.

"Huh?" She looked around, saw no one, and then looked down to see an impressively large white cat. She smiled. "Oh, hey there, Muta."

He grinned back. "Hey yourself. Got anything in that bag of yours for me?"

"Hmmm… Let me think for a second." Haru tapped a finger theatrically against her chin. A pause. A grin. "Nope!"

"Come on, Haru! I'm starving here!" Muta protested, rubbing his stomach as it growled loudly.

She knelt next to him and poked his somewhat round belly. "You also need to go on a diet."

"Hey! I am not fat!"

"Of course you aren't." Haru replied, humoring him. "But if what you told me about eating all those fish is true…."

"Why you…!" Muta grumbled, muttering unflattering things about people who didn't share under his breath. He could smell and practically taste the angel-food cake that was in her bag; she always had some on her, ever since she'd met him at her part-time job awhile back. Though, at the time, she'd mistaken him for an extra fuzzy chair cushion. He still wasn't quite over that…

"Alright, alright. I'll share with you." She pulled the tubbaware container out her bag and set it on the ground. "I've got more at home anyway." She grinned as Muta instantly tore the top off the container and dug in. Within seconds the cake had disappeared. And if Haru hadn't known better she'd have called it magic.

Muta sat back with contented sigh. "That was a good batch there, Chicky. Those raspberries were a really good idea."

She smiled happily. "Really? That's good to know." Her last batch of experimental cake hadn't done so well. Despite appearances, Muta was very picky about his food; it was the main reason Haru used him as a taste-tester. Besides the fact that it was something Muta seemed to enjoy doing.

"Yep." Muta levered himself to his feet. "It was nice running into ya, Haru, but I've gotta go. "

Haru nodded. "So do I."

"See ya around, Chicky."

"Alright. See you, Fatso."

He growled, "For the last time, I'm not fat!"

"Sure you aren't." She grinned and started home.

* * *

A/N: I'm so sorry for the long wait, I got a bit caught up in RL. And then I decided to go back and do some editing on Ch. 1, but I'm much happier with it now. /grins/ But I hope ye enjoyed this chapter.


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